Patricia Schroeder: “I am pleased to discuss the research and technology portions, including the defense conversion provisions, of H.R. 4301…”

“I am pleased to discuss the research and technology portions, including the defense conversion provisions, of H.R. 4301, the defense authorization bill. This year we focused on three broad themes that allowed the subcommittee to gauge the content of the administration's request. The first is the maturing initiatives in defense conversion which the Congress began 2 years ago. The committee is recommending over $3.6 billion to fund the Department of Defense's reinvestment and economic growth initiatives. This is the major part of the President's overall $4.8 billion multiagency conversion program. We are authorizing roughly $600 million for the Technology Reinvestment Project [TRP], bringing the total investment to date to over $1 rac{1}{2}illion. The tremendous response to the Technology Reinvestment Project attests to its role as the cornerstone of conversion efforts. Our title makes some modifications in the current TRP program to encourage greater defense worker and small business participation. We are also recommending a mandatory loan guarantee program for defense diversification and conversion activities and linked the program to defense worker skill retention to complement technology reinvestment activities. We expect this $50 million loan guarantee initiative to generate up to $1 billion in loan volume to capitalize commercial markets and stimulate near-term job creation.”